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| Song Background | |
| The song, What a Wonderful World, written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, was first recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1968. Written with the aim of countering increasing racial and political tensions in America, the song has an uplifting and positive feel to it. Not originally a hit in the US, having never been properly promoted, it was however a great success in the UK going to number one in the singles charts. Many years later, after having been included in the soundtrack to the film “Good Morning, Vietnam” , What a Wonderful World did find some success in the US charts. Many artists have recorded the song and I’ve given some of my recommendations below. For me though, the original Louis Armstrong version takes a lot of beating ! | |
| Suggested Listening | |
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Stacey Kent Album – Singles Performed in the key of A which allows for some lovely sustaining open strings played on a steel strung guitar. Oh, and of course, Stacey Kent’s vocal is pretty good as well! |
Louis Armstrong Album – What a Wonderful World The classic version |
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Charlie Byrd Album – For Louis A Jazz player on a classic nylon strung guitar. Listen to how, in the introduction, Charlie Byrd plays the melody in the bass with the chords on top. |
Gill Goldstein Album – A Room with a View Volume 10 I’ve chosen this version for the the way Gill Goldstein plays with the harmony. Having a lovely melody, the chord progression in this tune should generally be kept quite simple so as not to distract. Far from distracting, Gill takes us on journey. Listen out for the the left hand chords playing four to the bar with the right hand improvisation on top. As guitarists we can play in the same way and it it sounds so good. These techniques are covered in our modular guitar lessons. |
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Toots Thielemans & Kenny Werner Album – Toots Thielemans & Kenny Werner Why don’t we hear more harmonica playing ? |
Which artist’s version of What a Wonderful World would you recommend? Tell me about it and I can feature it here |
